The strange limbo between your late teens and looming adulthood colours the entirety of ‘Restless In Bloom’, the just-announced debut EP from London four-piece Tooth, who capture the anxieties and struggles of coming of age through a palette of grungy garage-rock and angsty second-wave emo. Penned as the band themselves were experiencing the trials of that period in life, it swirls with the innocent melodrama of relationships, growing up and finding your place in the world.
“It was a reflection of where my head was at then,” frontman Tom Pollock tells NME now, as he and his bandmates dial in from sun-splashed bedrooms and gardens on the UK’s hottest day of the year so far. “When I was writing the lyrics, I was at that fork in the road moment when you turn 18, and you notice that your adolescence is falling behind you. You hit this strange point where there’s no real certainty of what will happen in the future, but you’ve got to keep moving on.”
The band’s urgent debut single, ‘Age Of Innocence’, perfectly encapsulates this sentiment. Set against a backdrop of fuzzed-up, aching guitars, there’s a vibrant rush of youthful malaise and nostalgic warmth as Pollock delivers a vocal that feels ripe for the biggest festival stages: “I didn’t think youth would get so complicated / It’s a certain fate, I’ll never think straight”.
The track effortlessly lives up to the word-of-mouth buzz that the band have built through a heavy touring approach over the last three years, making the most of opportunities to play after forming during the pandemic. Although Pollock and guitarist Ben Ashley had been playing together since their early teens, the singer notes that period of enforced lockdown “was really important for us because it offered an opportunity to pick up instruments and really learn”.
Like many other budding young bands around the world, the pair instantly bonded over legendary touchstones like Sonic Youth, Interpol and Pixies, and decided to start their own project after some initial jam sessions. Soon, the lineup was completed by Charlie Arnison (bass) and Roy Lowe (drums), and as soon as lockdown was lifted, they threw themselves onto the London gig circuit, taking on a residency at The Blue Posts in Soho. “Those nights were messy and sleazy but a lot of fun,” recalls Ashley. “The place was the size of a bathroom with leopard-print carpet, and we’d just get really drunk every Friday. “It was important for us, though, because we got to play every week and it was a great testing ground.”
Inspired, rather than daunted, by the vast bustling music scene on their doorstep, the band, who all grew up in the capital, immersed themselves in the wider community. They lined up gigs at venues like The George Tavern and The Windmill – spaces that have become a rite of passage for any alternative band, in London and beyond, serious about their future.
“Some people often see London as quite an intimidating place culturally, but that wasn’t our experience,” says Pollock. “As soon as we started branching out and trying to play in different venues, we found so many like-minded bands. There was a real sense of belonging when we started playing around the city.”
“Even as mates, we’d just go to shows every week and having that constant pool of music there did shape us,” adds Ashley. “I remember seeing Wunderhorse opening for Fontaines D.C. in 2022, and that was such an inspiring moment. You’re so impressionable in your teens that each new band we saw each week took our sound in a new direction and made us quite versatile.”
Given Tooth’s songs grapple so directly with relatable themes around the turmoil of growing up, it’s understandable that – despite only being a handful of singles in – the band have already built a devoted youthful community of their own. Listening to freewheeling alt-rock anthems like ‘Medicine’ and it’s not hard to see why the songs have struck such a chord. There’s a sense of abandon as moody, driving guitars cascade under Pollock’s lyricism, which captures the enormous weight of young romances: “She sells stimulation, I feel it in my chest / It wounds in ways I can’t explain”.
“There’s people who turn up to every show now, and that only started happening last year,” says Ashley. “It’s so cool because you start seeing people’s reactions and how much they care. I remember that feeling of finding something that was special and your own, and it’s really wild to suddenly be on the other side of that.”
Pollock says it’s something they’re hoping to build on, “We really hope that people can relate to those feelings of confusion because it’s such a universal set of emotions that everyone goes through in life. It’s a rite-of-passage as you face this realisation that adulthood is waiting for you.”
While they might still be at the very start of their journey, the band do see ‘Restless In Bloom’ as the closing of a chapter now they’ve navigated their own coming of age and entered their early twenties. “We’re very proud of these songs, but moving forward, we want to push the boat out and reflect on who we are as people now,” Ashley muses. “I see the EP as a diary – we’ve left that note in, and now we’re going to move forward onto the next thing.”
“When you turn 18 […] you hit this strange point where there’s no real certainty of what will happen in the future” – Tom Pollock
“That’s the bit that excites me the most,” adds Pollock. “We’re all experiencing new things all the time. I’ve got a vast pool of inspiration to write about through being a young adult in London and all of the highs and the lows that come with that. It really excites me because we’re not closing any doors, we’re chasing whatever feels fun.”
With the EP on the horizon and a big summer ahead following their inclusion in 2026’s NME 100, including performances at tastemaking festivals like The Great Escape, the band are determined to soak up every moment through this breakthrough year. Given the subject matter they’ve written about so far, a set at Reading – a festival that’s long marked moving from adolescence into the early days of young adulthood for British youth – will carry extra significance for the band.
“A lot of people who come to our shows are the age we were when we first started the band, and Reading will be no different,” says Pollock. “Songs like ‘Age…’ and ‘Medicine’ are written about that point in life, so it really does resonate with people, and platforms like Reading are brilliant for striking that connection. It will be a really nice full-circle moment.”
As things dial up, they’re determined not to lose sight of who they were from day one. “When things started to feel a bit more serious, I think we were quite overwhelmed by it all,” suggests Ashley. “We had to take a moment within the group and identify the reason why we all started playing together in the first place. We decided that having fun was the most fundamental thing within the group that we needed to maintain at all times.
Considering Tooth entered this project under a cloud of uncertainty, moving into their own futures, you can’t help but feel like the road ahead suddenly seems so much clearer. As Pollock concludes, “If we stay together and focused, that will give the best chance for magic to fall at our doorstep.”
Tooth’s ‘Restless In Bloom’ EP is out on June 12 via Soil To The Sun Recordings
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